of Montreal

Of Montreals latest EP, the controllersphere, begins with what might be one of the strangest, most unexpected songs in the bands long, storied career of unpredictable weirdness. Black Lion Massacre is a dark electronic dirge that slowly swells into a heaving mess of drums and feedback noise, while bandleader Kevin Barnes delivers sedate spoken word about the usual psychedelic sexual nightmares. The rest of the controllersphere collects some less wildly disruptive odds and ends from the recording sessions of last years False Priestand, as Pitchfork pointed out, the EP may represent an end to of Montreals fruitful pomp funk phase of the last few years, concluding the arc of Skeletal Lamping False Priest the controllersphere laid out on the Hissing Fauna song Faberge Falls For Shuggie. Call it a requiem for of Montreal Mark 4, and revel in the bands absurd live pageantry before it becomes something else again. With Painted Palms, Beat Connection. ERIC GRANDY